


i'll go anywhere you want me

by mvntis



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Post-Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), that's all it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 13:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16159697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mvntis/pseuds/mvntis
Summary: She makes up some lie about needing to find a part for her arm—she’s not sure what possesses her to lie about it—and Mantis looks so happy that Nebula has to fight the urge to smile back.





	i'll go anywhere you want me

**Author's Note:**

> day one - "can you feel this?"  
> okay, so this was originally for fictober but predictably i gave up on that... anyways, i wanted to keep this work up so yeah.

Nebula has been with the Guardians for a few weeks now while they’re resting up on a planet she’s learned from a fruit vendor is called Navacarro. It’s a very hectic place with many more travelers than there are settlers, and she spends most of her time hiding in plain sight among crowds going in all directions.

 

And that’s how it had started: with the fruit. During their first week here, Mantis would ask Quill to get her some on his way to get parts for the Milano, and then Quill, being as careless as he is, would forget every single time. So, after the fourth time, Nebula offers to get her some. She makes up some lie about needing to find a part for her arm—she’s not sure what possesses her to lie about it—and Mantis looks so happy that Nebula has to fight the urge to smile back.

 

It’s easy enough to find someone selling fruit. Hell, they’re everywhere, which just makes Nebula want to knock Quill out even more than usual. The man behind the table is very old and gives her back the wrong change with shaking hands. She re-counts it out and hands him back the rest. He keeps thanking her as he bags the fruit like it’s a bigger deal than it is leading her to wonder if everyone that lands on this planet is just assumed to be a piece of shit. She just nods awkwardly, grabbing the bag and making her way back towards the Milano.

 

Mantis thanks her and when Nebula turns to leave she says, “don’t you want me to pay you back?”

 

“No,” she doesn't turn around, but she doesn’t take another step either.

 

“Okay, well… at least take some of the fruit.”

 

Nebula doesn’t want any, but Gamora keeps telling her that turning down stuff that people give her out of the kindness of their heart is rude. She turns back to see Mantis holding the sack open, so she grabs two of them,—she doesn’t even bother to check what they are. She isn’t going to eat them anyways— says a quick, “thanks,” and leaves for real this time.

 

The next time Nebula sees her alone is two days later when she wakes a little later than she’s used to. Mantis is reading something that Nebula doesn’t recognize, but that’s not saying much given she doesn’t recognize most books.

 

She looks comfortable, all wrapped up in an old blanket Quill found in one of the floor storage compartments. Something in Nebula wants to join her. She wants to sit next to her so that maybe, on the last few organic places on her arms, she can feel the warmth radiating off of Mantis. She gets a strange thought that she wishes she would just start reading out loud.

 

Before she can snap out of her thoughts, Mantis notices her standing there. She’s not sure how long it’s been since she stopped moving.  

 

“Good morning!” It’s way too cheery a way for someone to speak to her.

 

Gamora speaks to her like she’s worried that she’s going to up and leave again at any moment. Rocket thankfully hardly talks to her at all, she can’t understand Groot, Drax is unnecessarily rude like he is to everyone else, and Quill acts scared out of his mind of her. The last one amuses her, but she’d never show it for being too afraid that Quill would take it as an offer of some sort of friendship.

 

“What’s that?”

 

“A book,” she doesn’t mean to sound smart about it, Nebula knows that.

 

She doesn’t correct her, instead she just says, “what’s it about?”

 

“The history of this planet,” she adjusts herself so that she’s sitting up a little straighter. “Did you know that this planet was originally a farming planet? There are still a few big farms out way beyond the market area. I imagine whoever sold you the fruit owned one. I wonder what that’s like… to own a farm, I mean. I think it would be peaceful. I like the Guardians, but they aren’t what I would call peaceful.” She makes a face like she’s considering something, but she never voices whatever it is.

 

“Far from it,” is all she can think to say. When Mantis makes a quizzical noise, she says, “they’re far from peaceful.”

 

She nods, placing the book down on the bench next to her. “I think you are. Peaceful.”

 

Nebula tries not to look shocked by the statement.  She’s been called a lot of things and peaceful is nowhere among them.

 

The moment, whatever it is, is gone as quickly as it came when Mantis stands up. The blanket falls to the bench behind her, but she doesn’t spare it a second glance and then she’s gone.

 

After a couple of weeks of wandering aimlessly through the market place, Nebula has an idea. It’s a stupid, _stupid_ idea, but she’s seeing it through before she can think to stop herself. And then she makes her way back to the ship and sends a thanks to who or whatever is looking out for her when she finds Mantis alone.

 

“Follow me.”

 

It’s all she has to say, and Mantis is trailing behind her, not asking any questions. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t say anything at all. Nebula isn’t gonna force her, so they both stay silent. The only sound is their footsteps through increasingly taller and thicker grass that makes it up to about their hips before it stops rising. 

 

Only when they break through the grass to a large clearing that’s been freshly cut does Nebula speak.

 

“The man that sold me the fruit told me that if I came by he would let me help pick the next batch. I figured you might have wanted to… I don’t know…” 

 

When she dares to look to her right, Mantis is smiling. Nebula thinks she wants to smile back, and she almost does before Mantis pulls at her jacket and says, “okay, lets go!”

 

The old man— _call me Levan_ , he says—looks happy to see her and she can’t help but think how odd that feeling is. He looks even happier that she brought extra help.

 

He and Mantis get along really well just like she guessed they would. They spend the afternoon helping him and learning a few things about him along the way, like the fact that he usually runs the farm all on his own.

 

“Do you invite people up here to help a lot?” It’s the most she’s said since they got here.

 

“Not a lot,” he grabs an empty basket and passes it to her. “I get feelings about people, gut feelings. If I feel that I can trust them, I ask for their help.”

 

“And if you’re wrong?”

 

“And if I’m wrong, they usually don’t show up.”

 

She nods for lack of anything to say. When she looks up, Mantis is watching the two of them from just on the other side of the row. She smiles, and Nebula finally smiles back.

 

Fruit picked, arms and backs now tired, they say goodbye to Levan and make the pretty lengthy journey back.

 

Mantis is talkative unlike on the first trip. She talks about nothing and everything all at once and Nebula makes noises where she feels is needed. She tells Nebula about the planets she visited without mentioning who she was forced to visit them with. She talks about their night skies and compares them to the one darkening before their very eyes. She talks about how she might want to cut her hair and Nebula wants to tell her it would look pretty no matter what she did with it. She tells her about a book she read once and says she would have Nebula read it if she remembered the name—because she thinks she would enjoy it.

 

It feels like they’ve had weeks’ worth of conversations by the time they make it back, and maybe they have. Besides a few very charged moments, they haven’t talked much over their time spent here.

 

When Nebula tries to get back in the ship, Mantis grabs her jacket. It’s urgent which startles her despite knowing who's behind her.

 

When she turns around, Mantis looks nervous. It’s a stark contrast from just a minute or two ago and she asks the woman if she’s okay. Mantis nods, trying to give a genuine smile, but it comes out looking forced.

 

“Can you feel this?” She asks. She’s quiet like it’s something she’s not supposed to say. Nebula is trying to work out why that is without having to ask.

 

She can’t, and she has to know, so she just asks. “Feel what?” Her heart is starting to feel like it might leap out of her chest if it could.

 

Mantis gestures between the two of them and… oh.

 

She wants to try something, and she so rarely has the chance to get what she wants, so she doesn’t give it a second thought before she’s reaching up with her organic hand. She stops just short of Mantis’ cheek, waiting for her to pull away and when she doesn’t, she lets her hand fall the rest of the way.

 

Mantis’ antennae light up and she knows that her feelings are being read, and despite hating the idea of that in the past, she doesn’t want to stop it now.

 

She doesn’t tell her what she feels. They both already know it.

 

Nebula has never done this before, but since when has the aspect of something being new ever gotten in her way? She closes the gap, letting their lips meet. This seems to be new to the both of them and that thought helps her relax into it.

 

Mantis places her hands at the sides of Nebula’s face as if she’s going to deepen the kiss but she pulls away just a little instead.

 

“I think… this is my favorite feeling.”

 

“Yeah,” she’s a little breathless off of the nerves alone, “mine too.”

**Author's Note:**

> fuck, i love them!! i love them so bad!!!!


End file.
